Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
IRONWOOD II poses with its Little 8 first place trophy with Jim Lorenson, Gogebic Community Collegee president. From left are Steve Boyd, coach, Dylan Taivalmaa, Lorenson, Kinley Lyons, team captain, Andrew Niemi, and Maggie Meyer. The Ironwood II team defeated the Bessemer III team.
By IAN MINIELLY
Ironwood - Gogebic Community College played host to 24 teams from 12 high schools Tuesday for a Quiz Bowl competition, with Ironwood coming away with two victories.
Teams from Ironwood, L'Anse, Phillips, Hurley, Houghton, Republic-Michigamme, Chassell, Hancock, Bessemer, Watersmeet, West Iron County and Wakefield-Marenisco squared off in two divisions over the span of 5.5 hours.
On a warm Tuesday, revenge for Ironwood was best served cold. The team from Houghton defeated the Ironwood team in two previous match-ups, according to Carl Vaara, event coordinator, with the most recent defeat at the Upper Peninsula Championships at Northern Michigan University in Marquette.
With those two prior defeats, Houghton and Ironwood met again in the championship of the Big 16 division, setting the stage for additional pressure and drama on all the kids involved.
Could Houghton make it three in a row or would Ironwood break through and win?
In a battle of wits and pressure, the Ironwood II team won the Little 8 division over the Bessemer 3 team, prior to the Big 16 championship. Dylan Taivalmaa, Kinley Lyons, Andrew Niemi and Maggie Meyer made up the team.
The Ironwood I team defeated Houghton I in the Big 16 championship, 330-315.
Ironwood team members are Corissa Mattson, Rico Braucher, Ian Bentley and Zane Ozzello.
Steve Boyd coached both Ironwood teams.
Matches are four rounds per game, with the first and final round consisting of toss-up questions given to the team with the quickest buzzer. The second round is also a toss-up, but there are bonus questions available to generate higher scores, while the third round is a "lightning round" where one team picks the topic, usually the trailing team, providing its answers as a team, while giving the opponent an opportunity if they fail.
The event was assisted by a myriad of GCC staff, working as question readers and scorers, as well as members of the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society, led by Maria Sokol, and other community volunteers.
A match consists of 130 questions, some of which are quite simple and others that can leave a person scratching their nuggets in disbelief.
A sampling of questions:
-Botany: In botanical reproduction, if one parent is red for the color trait, the other parent is white, and the offspring are all red, which principle of heredity is shown in the offspring? The answer is the principle of dominance and recessiveness.
-Math: What is the simplified form of i raised to the fifth power? The answer is i.
-Toss-up: According to the proverb, what "breeds contempt?" The answer is familiarity.
